Maurszczyk Paddock 5a truss rod snapped!

[ezbass]

Really looking forward to your analysis of the truss rod, as this isn’t the first Maruszczyk rod we’ve heard of with issues. Do I have a vested interest? Oh yes, I own 2 custom built Maruszczyks.

[Andyjr1515]

34 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Really looking forward to your analysis of the truss rod, as this isn’t the first Maruszczyk rod we’ve heard of with issues. Do I have a vested interest? Oh yes, I own 2 custom built Maruszczyks.

Yes - it will be interesting.  If the neck really does have that degree of bow and the trussrod was fitted the right way round and now has no tension (but I've learnt to never make assumptions until the board is off) then it is probably cause and effect.  A trussrod is designed to counteract the string tension.  If it is given the additional job of straightening a very bowed neck as well, then it is likely to fail.

 

If it turns out that, once the board is off and the rod is out, the neck does still have that same degree of bow, then there are a number of things that can usually be done.  Plane-ing the top surface flat again would normally be the first thing to consider in those circumstances so that, with the new rod installed but not tensioned, the neck and fretboard should be as near as makes no difference flat.

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

Decent progress in a couple of hours I found spare this morning.

 

First, I did the razor saw cut down to the neck line to protect the headstock veneer:

 

Then heated the back of the board for 15-20 minutes, easing the razor blade in until I could feel the glue softening enough for me to push the edge of a thin sheet steel (actually an acoustic guitar side bending sheet)into the gap.  

Moving the iron up around an inch every 10 minutes or so, eased the sheet carefully up the board:

 

Until an hour and a half or so later, it was off:

 

The capping strip is still in place over the rod, but you can see that it does have a couple of carbon rods.  

 

Getting the capping strip off took some doing but, eventually:

 

And yes, @Woodinblack is right - for some reason, best known to Maurszczyk, the rod is reverse to most.  Fair enough if the user/care guides clearly state that is the case but, if not, isn't that just asking for trouble?  And so the set bow, and the subsequent failure of the rod was because it was being inadvertently - but reasonably, in my view - being adjusted the wrong way.

 

I will see if Maurszczyk will sell me a reasonably priced replacement and if not, on either count, then just fit a modern £15-ish 'righty tighty' two way rod.

 

There is no damage to the timber edges of either the neck or the fretboard and so, once the board is reglued, it should be just a case of tidying up the finish at the join itself.  Fingers crossed, it should be pretty well unnoticeable to the eye or playing hand.   

 

 

 

 

 

[evan47]

Looking good.

So glad that you have taken care of the veneer on the Headstock,,,,,,very important to me.

[Andyjr1515]

The replacement trussrod arrived yesterday and so today was about prepping the fit and getting ready for re-gluing of the fretboard.  First thing was to widen the slot a mm for the new rod to fit snugly in the slot:

 

 

The original 'traditional' rod required a curved slot carved in the neck for it to work.  The modern rod I am fitting is straight.  So two more things needed to be done - deepening the slot either end by a few mm and filling the over deep length in the middle. 

 

Here I'm using the 'I don't use this often but by golly am I glad I have it for this kind of job' mini hand router to shave the shallow ends down to depth:

 

Technically, the over-deep part of the slot could be left alone - the new rod will bow upwards against the fretboard centre, not downwards into the slot - but I always think that the fewer voids you have in a neck the better!   So I am shaving down some spare maple edge binding to fill the over-deep area of the slot:

 

Removing the old, still reverse-tensioned, rod allowed the set bow in the neck to flatten.  I can reinforce that by lightly clamping the flat face of the neck to my levelling beam while the glue on those infill strips is drying:

 

I'll let that fully set overnight and then tomorrow should be able to insert the rod and re-glue the fretboard to the neck.  And while that's drying, start fretting @funkle's Wal-ish neck, whose fret wire arrived this afternoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[funkle]

Beautiful work Andy!

Edited May 25, 2022 by funkle

[evan47]

Looking good Andy.

[BigRedX]

That's a standard two-way truss rod you're fitting now?

 

Was a replacement Maurszczyk rod too expensive, or were they uninterested in helping you fix this neck?

[Crusoe]

I can't understand why they would use a truss rod that works in the opposite direction to almost every other truss rod out there. 😕

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

That's a standard two-way truss rod you're fitting now?

 

Was a replacement Maurszczyk rod too expensive, or were they uninterested in helping you fix this neck?

Yes - a tonetech standard modern two-way

 

I had a ponder and discussion with @evan47 and we agreed that this would be preferable.  Yes - it's a bit weird that the Maurszczyk is reverse.  If the adjuster was fitted in manufacture to the other side, it would work 'normally' (one end has a reverse thread, the other has a standard thread.  The adjuster here was attached to the reverse thread end but could just as easily been fitted to the other end without any difference to how it works other than it would then adjust normally.  It's bizarre). 

 

But my main concern was that even if it was turning the wrong way, it shouldn't have snapped with the small adjustments that @evan47 was making and the relatively small bow that he had created in the process!  And being reverse is just stacking up the odds.  I could understand it if they offered a ready and lucrative truss rod replacement service but, clearly, they don't   

 

And it's not unknown, of course, for the modern rods to fail (although I've never personally suffered or seen that).  But if you scour the 'Repairs and Technical' here and on other bass and guitar forums, it seems to me to be almost always the case that truss rod difficulties - other than related to folks using the wrong allen key sizes - are with the older-style bent-rod systems. 

 

 

[Woodinblack]

24 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - it's a bit weird that the Maurszczyk is reverse.  If the adjuster was fitted in manufacture to the other side, it would work 'normally' (one end has a reverse thread, the other has a standard thread.  The adjuster here was attached to the reverse thread end but could just as easily been fitted to the other end without any difference to how it works other than it would then adjust normally.  It's bizarre).

 

But having done it that way, people know they are reversed, so if they started doing them the right way round, other people would break them!

[Andyjr1515]

And so to the part that probably need the most care - gluing the fretboard back.

 

First step, clearly, was to ensure that all traces of the original glue was removed from both faces.

 

Then a couple of dry runs to make sure that when I started clamping, I knew where everything I was going to need was and where it would go.

 

The board tends to float around on the glue layer and so positive location of its position is needed.  One useful thing is that the original heel screw drill holes actually go into the fretboard a small amount - I will be able to use that with a drill shank as a locator!   Note also the plywood strip running along the neck spline which will act as the clamping caul:

 

 

 

The next way of locating checked in the dry run was a few spool clamps to clamp the side of the fretboard in line with the side of the neck.  The main clamp cauls on this side is a variety of fretboard radius sanding blocks to give maximum pressure across the board and to the sides:

 

And then, just before gluing, low-tack masking tape - I don't want to be having to scrape wood glue off the neck or fretboard any more than I have to!

 

And, finally, glue, check all of the alignments, clamp, re-check:

 

And it will stay clamped until tomorrow morning when I will see how much edge reparation will be needed.  

[Andyjr1515]

8 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

But having done it that way, people know they are reversed, so if they started doing them the right way round, other people would break them!

Yes - it's a conundrum.  Main thing is, does the 'Care Guide' supplied with the new basses (?) point it out?  If so, fair enough. 

[simisker]

Yes, it is mentioned. I don't think it's mentioned strenuously enough, of course. "Who reads the manual for a BASS?!" etc.

 

Also, used ones don't always come with all the paperwork.

 

I wonder if the reversed truss rod has its roots in Eastern European traditional instrument making? I can't think of much else it could be for it to be a consistent feature of Maruszczyks.

Edited May 26, 2022 by simisker

[Woodinblack]

13 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - it's a conundrum.  Main thing is, does the 'Care Guide' supplied with the new basses (?) point it out?  If so, fair enough. 

 

read the manual.. for a bass.. ummm.. sorry, not with you there

I have a manual, probably, somewhere!

[BigRedX]

One of the problems for me when it comes to adjusting truss rods is that because I'm mildly dyslexic, one of the side effects of this is that "Righty-Tighty" makes absolutely no sense. After all when I'm adjusting the truss rod with an allen key I'm only turning to the right for 180° of the turn. The other 180° I'm turning to the left. For me clockwise/anticlockwise when looking directly along the axis of the object I'm turning from the adjustment end. That way there's no confusion. 

 

On the few occasions when I have need to adjust the truss rod of a guitar or bass I've always tried turning slightly in each direction to feel which is stiffest and use that as my guide. So far it hasn't resulted in any broken truss rods.

 

BTW the only guitars or basses that I have owned that came with any kind of truss-rod adjustment guide, were those using the mechanism that is adjusted from the side of the heel with a geared mechanism.

Edited May 26, 2022 by BigRedX

[Woodinblack]

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

One of the problems for me when it comes to adjusting truss rods is that because I'm mildly dyslexic, one of the side effects of this is that "Righty-Tighty" makes absolutely no sense. After all when I'm adjusting the truss rod with an allen key I'm only turning to the right for 180° of the turn. The other 180° I'm turning to the left. For me clockwise/anticlockwise when looking directly along the axis of the object I'm turning from the adjustment end. That way there's no confusion. 

 

That isn't a dyslexic thing, it never made any sense to me, I always have to look it up to see if it means clockwise or anticlockwise.

[Andyjr1515]

Clamps are off!

 

Most important first check - has that set-bow gone?   Yup - it's straight:

 

Next is using a cabinet scraper to take any remaining glue squeeze-out and edges off so we can see how tight the joint is before merging the finish:

 

There's more to do to fully merge the original finish and the new joint, but the basic joint seen below is looking OK.  I will be fine-sanding between the edge and the existing finish to make sure that your playing hand doesn't feel any irregularity and then use some tinted finish (probably the same stuff as used originally, based on how it behaved when I was removing it) so that also visibly it doesn't shout out  :

 

Oh - and I've just given the rod a 1/4 turn clockwise...the neck bends smoothly and in the 'conventional' direction

 

 

 

[Woodinblack]

Excellent, will keep this in mind next time I adjust the truss rod on mine (which I have done without trouble so far!)

[evan47]

Its looking good Andy.

The small bots look cool and I don't mind if the lacquer is a little darker as I always thought it was a bit on the pale side.

Evan.

[Andyjr1515]

@evan47 is - as it should be - slightly ahead of the rest of the forum on this    

 

He's asked me if I could do him some offset dots on the face of the fretboard.  Here they are for the rest of you to see 

 

Just got to wait for the tinted finish to arrive and then I can blend the joint line to the original finish and have something that feels right and looks right.  

 

 

[3below]

Super work and highly informative for undertaking such a repair.  Out of interest, what did you do with the razor saw cut to lose/hide it?  

[Andyjr1515]

11 hours ago, 3below said:

Out of interest, what did you do with the razor saw cut to lose/hide it?  

 

At the moment, I just keep looking at it with a mix of satisfaction and relief 

 

 

I've said before that guitars and basses are made of a series of compromises held together with hope.  None more so than when you have to do open-heart-surgery stuff like this!

 

What that slot tells me at the moment is that, because it is now exactly the same width as when I cut it, the board must therefore be absolutely in the right place.  And that isn't always easy to judge - naturally over time, but accelerated when you have to heat them up like this, the fretboards shrink a little bit (it's why often a new bass, after around a year or two, often starts getting sharp fret ends that need filing back flush).  And so having such a precise datum like that slot is useful.

 

When the tinted finish arrives, I will mix a little with some maple sanding dust (I keep dust from all the woods I use for this type of purpose) and fill the slot in the same way that the original fret slots were filled by the manufacturer.

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

If you look closely, you can see that sanding line is a slight bit lighter, but for most observers, well, I don't think they would see it.

 

 

Just need to let the blend coat fully dry over the next few days and it can be shipped back to @evan47 

 

 

 

[Reggaebass]

Beautiful job Andy